Morning journal and courier., 1887-09-24
Let those refuse to sing
Netting SparrOws.

eThem sparrows has been cussed hard enough to drive them out of the country,
 but they've made me many an honest dollar, an I'll take their part"
 That's what Joe Johnson says, and he knows what he Is talking about. Joe hasn't any visible means of support-in daylight. He does his work by night. He has an as- sistant, and the product of his after-dark labors has taken the dollars from the pock cts of many an unsuspecting man who treats himself to the toothsome bird. Joe is 6 sparrow netter, and he is the only one in this city who follows it as a money-making bueiness. His hunting grounds are not in the public squares nor wooded places near this city. He hunts his game chiefly the side walls of churches, dwelling houses and other places where ivy vines climb and cling. Just at this time the sparrows are prepar- ing to quit the chilly northern climate for one more congenial to their delicate English blood, and every ivy vine in the city is the scene of nightly convention, where noisy discussions are held upon the weather prob abilities. and where all the signs of an early fall are talked over. These conventions the ! sparroW hunter endeavors each evening to l attend, and he seldom leaves without captur- | ing the convention more completely than Sam Randall captured the late Democratic convention at Allentown.
 The sparrow netter's method of procedure { is this: He provides himself with scoop ! net similar to those used for grabbing, but much larger. He has put an improvement on the idea, however, as he has 8 purse string through the net some distance below the ring, The mouth of the net is about six feet in diameter. The handle is long enough to enable him to reach high up on the sides of the ivy-covered buildings.
 He knows every ivy covered wall in this city, and he visits nearly every one of them nightly. He generally starts out in the neighborhood of Tenth and Clinton streets, where there are several houses covered with the clinging creepers, and from there he makes his rounds, going to the corner of ! Washington Square and Locust street, talk. | ing in all those buildings about Eighth and Locust. He then works his way up to 8 | building on Arch street, near Twelfth, which is a favorite place for the sparrow conven- | tion, and he generally finishes his nightly
 hunting at Spring Garden street, near Eight ! eenth, where there is another vine-clad house, around which the noisy little nui- { sances gather in conclave.
 When Joe reaches spot where he intends | to make haul he reaches up his big net un- l til he covers a large space where the vines | are thickest. While he presses the mouth ! of the net close against the wall his assis- l tant, with long pole, stirs up the vines. The disturbed birds fly and hutter blindly | into the net. When he thinks all are in Joe | pulls the purse string and encloses his game. Down comes the net and one after another | the necks of the birds are wrung. He then ! ties them up in bundles of twelve, deposits 1 them in basket and goes on 60 the next | vine.
 1 His catch is running little light yet, but last fall he captured as high as one hundred and twenty dozen in a single night. The 1 lack of love Philadelphians have for the noisy little nuisanees makes it a matter of little difficulty for Joe to obtain permission
 to trap the sparrows, and the police, who ! know his business, never interfere with him. Where the walls can be reached from the | street he never asks anybody's permission. reporter to whom Joe explained his
 manner of capturing the sparrows asked him what he did with them.
 fSell 'em," answered Joe.
 gro whom2"
 "Well, if you promise not to tell anybody
 I'll tell you. sell lem to the restaurants
 for reed birds. Of course the people that
 buys lem knows what they arel Ye see real
 reed birds cost the restaurants from fifty
 cents dozen up. sell the sparrers to
 them for from twenty-five cents to thirty
 five cents, accordin' to the catch. I pluck lem and fix lem up after take lem home al